Cadillac Desert, Revised and Updated Edition: The American West and Its Disappearing Water

This was actually a gift for someone, as it’s my favorite nonfiction. Well written, and just a fascinating and under appreciated aspect of society and history in the western US. If you live in a western US state, and are even a little interested in water rights, public policy around settlement of the west, or the tension between humans and the natural world that sustains them, but that they also harness for economic and personal benefit - read this!

I really like this book, it's so interesting and informative.

Awesome story, very educational for me as a California resident. I had no idea about the history of the Owens Valley, for example, despite having driven through it a dozen times. Make me realize just how unsustainable life is in Southern California and Southern Arizona.One annoyance - the author uses words that are unbelievably obscure. Example, in chapter 2 ... "Sesquipedalian tergiversation was the strong suit of ...". I consider myself as having a pretty decent vocabulary but these two words are not known to me. What possible value does the use of such words have in terms of this story? I can't imagine even 1% of the readers knowing what this means, and thus, whatever contribution these obscure words may theoretically have is negated by the fact that 99% will simply have to move on (I was on a plane when reading this so could not get online and do a search at the time). If I were reading a classic novel, I might expect to encounter rich, obscure words but in a non-fiction book I don't expect to have to struggle to find the meaning of words. I guess the silver lining is, I did later learn how to download a local dictionary for future offline lookups.

After reading The Water Knife, I wanted more. A lot more! And boy did I get it! Mr. Bacigaluoi did not exaggerate about how good this book is. It's a thesis on water in the West. Many people have summarized the book very well, so I won't try to duplicate their work.What I will say is this: Occasionally, you get a glimpse into a brilliant brain, and find it hard to believe that someone could dig so deeply. Most people in the US have never researched an issue for more than 30 minutes. Personally, had the privilege of spending three years looking at an esoteric protein for my PhD. I emerged as the reigning monarch of that stupid protein for all of a month before I was dethroned. So I thought I understood "deep." I was woefully unprepared for this level of DEEP!!!Holy wow!!! To say this work is brilliant is underselling it in the extreme. This is a literal life's work of love and passion, not repeatble by any living human today. It's special. VERY special. It's well-written, well-edited (which is a really nice surprise in today's market), and holds the attention easily. I couldn't put it down. There's something very attractive about getting a glimpse into such a beautiful mind.Thank you Mr. Bacigaluoi for directing me to this book. I won't forget the favor if you ever need anything!

This book is amazing. Very well written and wittily humorous as well. Seems to be well-researched and thorough, although at times the reader can detect a bit of the author's personal biases. All in all, a very good tome. Thank you to Neil Peart for recommending it.

Every American should read Cadillac Desert. Despite its seemingly dull and tedious topic - a historical analysis of water resource development in the American West - it is one of the best non-fiction works I've ever read. Marc Reisner's descriptive narration and highly engaging style make for a captivating story, and the information presented is astounding. I had no idea the development of the West was so inextricably linked with staggering levels of corruption, incompetence, and waste driven by all levels of government, media outlets, and agro-conglomerates of all sizes or that destructive infighting between senescent departments of the federal government was actually a real thing. This book makes for an eye-opening but rather depressing read though the Postscript to the Revised Edition does give some cause for future optimism.

I bought this because I wanted to start learning about the history and legal structure of water in the American West. While I will grant that I have learned a fair bit, it’s not a pleasant read. It might be more minutiae than I wanted and it’s not an engaging read. It’s not easy to skim through more or less relevant parts because the chapter titles are not informative. The chapters are also quite long, far more than most people will read in a sitting. I’m not quite halfway through. I don’t know whether I will finish it or not. I just bought a companion to read it that I hope will help orient me through the chapters.

excellent livre, bien écrit, avec un prise d'humour, très bien documenté. Retrace deux siècles de civilisation états-unienne dans le Sud-Ouest (Great Desert) dans le contexte plus vaste de la lutte civilisatrice contre la nature (irriguer et urbaniser le désert). Un chapitre du Homo Deus états-unien, avec, en arrière-plan, un fonctionnement presque mafieux des institutions (les deux principaux ingrédients: money and power). Et une prévision plutôt catastrophique: re-désertification.

I think that most people think that irrigation is good, no matter what. The author revisits this "cliché" through the history of irrigation in western USA and demonstrate the folly in many such endeavors. The book, published in 1985 and reprinted in 2017, is incredibly detailed and well researched.

Cadillac Desert is one of the most important books I have read this year. It provides a comprehensive discussion of the water-related challenges of the American West and it leaves the reader feeling very unsettled and concerned for the future of America. It provides a unique perspective on the history of the American West and illuminates both state and federal government agencies most people have probably ignored up until now. Finally, the book is beautifully written.The book was originally written in the 1980s but was reissued in 2017 with a new afterword to catch you up in what happened since the book was originally published.

I read this because it was mentioned in The Water Knife. Found it excellent and I learned a lot about American history. Highly recommended.

Who knew that the US has almost 20,000 government built dams, many costing billions of dollars? Who knew California steals all the water it can get from the southwest and midwest? You'll read about how many farmers and ranchers got screwed just because a US department had nothing else to do except build dams.Easy and fun reading!